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Belief, Faith, and Religion
Divine Interest * The gods are fickle and dangerous—their benevolent attention is nearly as dangerous for devotees as their anger. ** Think of people as pets, and the gods as their lackadaisical owners. There's not that much communication going on, and every once in a while the owners remember to put some food down, but all too frequently they completely misunderstand whether you wanted the litterbox cleaned, more water, or walkies. But pee on the carpet or ignore them for too long, and oh boy! It might be off to the pound with you. Or worse. * To represent this, the GM uses a method that looks similar to the character sheet's consequence boxes to track Divine Interest. It functions like a set of consequences for the entire group of heroes, recording how much attention they have attracted among the gods. Note that Divine Interest consequences cannot be used in conflicts between two player characters. Attracting Divine Interest * Examples of things that would cause Divine Interest (i.e., add to the next lowest open Divine consequence) include: ** Rolling ++++ or ---- on the dice. Even if a fate point is used to re-roll, the point will be incurred although the result of the action will be changed. ** Obtaining a Miraculous (+9) or better result—a.k.a. succeeding catastrophically. ** Obtaining an Abysmal (-4) or worse result—a.k.a. heroic calamity. ** Performing a magic ritual. ** Certain costs associated with magical stunts (see "Magic"). ** Doing something extravagant, extraordinary, eccentric, or otherwise distinguishing you from those around you, in place of taking a personal consequence. * The GM tracks four Divine Interest consequences—two mild consequences, one moderate, and one severe—for the group of adventurers, each of which represents on-going attention from the gods; you can attract the attention of different gods this way, or get the same one more and more excited about your adventure. They're not watching you constantly, but occasionally they remember your existence and intervene in your favor or against it, depending on the relationship. Divine Interest Consequences * Mild Consequences (Examples): ** Clamor of Armies (Ares, Mars, Tyr) ** Hair Turning Leaf-Green (Artemis, Diana) ** Persistent Localized Thunderstorm (Zeus, Jupiter, Tlaloc) ** River Running Backwards (Tethys, Chalchiuhtlicue) ** Chiming Bells Whenever Someone Is Lying (Hera, Thoth, Bragi) ** Singing Rocks (Ourea, Tepeyollotl) * Moderate Consequences (Examples): ** Maelstrom (Poseidon) ** Rain of Blood (Ares, Mars) ** Swarms of Locusts (Demeter, Ceres, Isis, Xipe-Totec) ** Turn Wine Into Water (Dionysus, Bacchus) ** Visions of Death (Hel, Hades, Pluto, Mictecacihuatl) * Severe Consequences (Examples): ** Attracts Monster Hordes (Loki, Tlaltecuhtli) ** Belch Lightning (Thor, Zeus, Jupiter) ** Fireblast (Apollo, Xiuhtecuhtli) ** Shipwreck (Poseidon, Neptune) ** Withering Crops (Demeter, Ceres, Sif, Centeotl) Recovery * Mild Divine Interest consequences are easily cleared. ** A minor milestone will allow one mild consequence to be cleared. * Moderate Divine Interest consequences will last at least two sessions and until a significant milestone, at which point it can be reduced to mild. * Severe Divine Interest consequences stick with the heroes and change them: the gods' attention is now firmly on you. ** They will keep continuously watching you and they will use you as their pawn, champion, martyr, or prize in their schemes and struggles. Sure, they will forget about you for long stretches of time, but the gods' divine gaze is now firmly fixed. ** A severe Divine Interest consequence will last at least through one significant milestone and until the next major milestone. * Being Taken out by Divine Interest: When you've already filled all four of the Divine Interest consequence slots for the group without a chance to clear them, and get one more such consequence, you are taken out just like with regular stress. At the end of the session, you will have a Divine milestone. Clear all Divine Interest consequences and discuss a new group aspect, which can be invoked and compelled as usual. This should be an aspect the entire group, players and GM, agrees will make sense and be fun in the campaign. ** Pawn of ___: When the god needs a cut-up for some reason, you end up being at hand. You find yourself in some cockamamie situation you are spectacularly not suited to because the god needs a marker of some sort. *** If you gain mostly favorable attention by doing something the gods think is neat, they will appear to you with a message—probably accidentally setting the place on fire or causing other collateral damage in the process. They may be trying to impress their benevolence upon you, and generally trying to help you, but are in fact being as useful as you are when you help ants build their little ant hill. ** Marked by ___: When there is nothing more interesting going on, the god checks on you, causing alarm and repercussions. You may develop a reputation for being bad luck. *** If you manage to anger, disappoint, or vex the gods, they will send you the occasional lightning bolt strike, put dangerous and ridiculous obstacles in your path, cause storms, floods, or earthquakes to follow you, or turn you into a talking ox. The only thing that will provide any respite is the gods' gaze turning to someone else. ** Embroiled in Divine Plots: After one god showed interest, others also paid attention. You're like the ball in this game, and the winner will probably spike you before forgetting about you and going out to celebrate. * Being taken out by Divine Interest consequences can be the signal for a major milestone and possibly even a re-scaling of the campaign. The heroes are now embroiled in world-spanning shenanigans. In that case, combine the effects of both the major and Divine milestones. The Many Gods * It is perfectly possible to attract the Divine Interest of more than one deity, which may in turn result in many different group aspects. * After many adventures, the heroes managed to attract the Wrath of Ares, the Benevolence of Athena, and probably the attention of a few other deities as well * The gods are powerful beings who can grant a worshipper's petition through blessings and curses. Easily bored, they often turn an eye to their most unpredictable creations, the mortal beings who populate this world, wage war, and constantly invent clever new ways of getting in trouble. The gods like to intervene in mortals' affairs to guide, reward or punish, but the force they use is not necessarily commensurate with their supplicants' requests. * Mortals can take the risk of begging the gods for these blessings and curses, knowing that the thunderbolt meant for an enemy may land close enough to singe the petitioner as well. Praying too earnestly can be dangerous; then again, ignoring the gods, neglecting to make the proper obeisances, can attract divine anger and retribution * Magic is in many ways more trickery and taking credit for fortuitous success than actual arcane workings; after all, no one wants the gods to get too close. Priests mostlypretendto perform rituals without actually attracting attention from the gods, whose appearance is dangerous even to their devotees. * So why do magic-users risk it? ** One: it works. Sort of. Sometimes. In battle it can make all the difference. ** Two: the gods get very, very touchy when you neglect them, and they react badly. Then it's not ambiguous, two-edged, or risky at all: it's all bad. ** Priests' objectives, then, are to minimize the amount of actual god involvement in mortals' affairs while maximizing the satisfaction of their flocks and patrons. They try to do just enough actual magic and no more, covering the rest with a mix of sooth-saying, show-boating, quackery, and blind luck. * Magic: The 30-Second Version ** Take an appropriate aspect at character creation. *** Not everyone can perform magic rituals; you need an aspect that grants permission such as Oracle of Apollo, Freyja-Blessed Seidhr, High Priest of Jupiter, or Self-Trained Hedge Priest of Demeter. ** Choose a ritual and perform the required chanting, dancing, and so forth. *** Some rituals have similar working in all versions of Agaptan magic, although their trappings will be vastly different from one faction to the next and even one school to the next. In addition, each has its own exclusive rituals. Notes for rituals can be literal pieces of writing, but they can also be recorded as complex series of knots in a string, glyphs carved in stone, etc. It's difficult for a priest to decipher rituals from another school, and painstakingly difficult to even guess at another faction's rituals. *** Rituals' primary effect is to allow a blessing or curse to be placed on a target—the person, place, or thing it's being cast on. Sometimes a ritual will also have a subject—the person, place, group, or thing which will be the focus of the ritual's effect on the target. *** Example: A Rage ritual to make Julius angry at Lilia would be cast on Julius (the target) and focused on Lilia (the subject). ** Make an appropriate approach roll to overcome against the target of the ritual. ** The GM marks a Divine Interest consequence. ** Cast the ritual: *** General ritual: Use to create a temporary stunt on a target individual or item. **** In order to cast a ritual, the priest must use one or more actions to overcome the target difficulty. With a success, the ritual creates a temporary stunt (see the list below). Rituals that produce good luck or beneficial effects for the target can either give a +2 bonus in narrow circumstances for one scene, or give a one-time special effect before dissipating. Rituals that produce bad luck or negative effects for the target produce a one-time special effect lasting up to one scene, then dissipate. **** Assuming a single target—a person, or a thing perhaps as large as a hut—enough time to chant or mumble the sacred words, and the appropriate ritual trappings, the roll is made against a difficulty of Average (+1). So long as the character succeeds, then the target gains the blessing or curse—see below for details—for the scene or until it is no longer dramatically appropriate, whichever comes first. *** Battle ritual: Use during Roar phase to create an aspect appropriate to a curse or blessing on the target group. *** Further modifications follow: **** Target Difficulty **** Base difficulty (self, object, or other person within contact range) Average (+1) **** Object, area, or person is in sight but not touch range Add +1 **** Target person not present, but a powerful symbolic tie to them is present(their blood, a treasured possession) Add +2 **** Target person not present, but is known and named, or is a known location Add +3 **** Target is as big as a ship or small building Add +1 **** Target is as big as a large building or arena Add +2 **** Target is as big as a small town Add +3 **** Unforeseen difficulties (performing the ritual in a rush, while underwater, at spear point) Add +1 to +3(GM's discretion) **** Praying to a god you have angered (having unfavorable Divine Interest consequences or aspects) Add +2 **** Unwilling target Add +1 **** Larger targets require much more time, the efforts of several priests, and luck. **** Some rituals have a subject, such as a ritual that makes your lord mad at his daughter. The absence of that subject similarly impacts the difficulty: +0 if present, +3 if you only have a name, as above. The one qualifier is that if the subject can be made to accept some token of the ritual—a potion, a trinket—then they are effectively "present." Such tokens must be used within a short time, typically three days. **** Success with style on a ritual generates a boost as normal. **** No target can be the focus of more than one ritual at a time. The newest ritual replaces the existing one. **** Some blessings and curses have their own additional modifiers. **** High difficulties can be beaten by having multiple priests working together and by treating the ritual as a challenge (see"Challenges".) Create as many steps as you need, assigning static difficulties; the sum of these difficulties must be equal to or greater than the ritual difficulty you calculated. General Rituals Magic rituals typically influence luck in small ways or push and pull on the target's emotions. * Annoyance: The target rubs people the wrong way. If the ritual has a subject, then this particular subject is more easily annoyed by the target of the ritual. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Grating Voice: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target's voice is so irritating that those they speak to can hardly remember the actual words. ** Looks Like This Jerk I Used to Know: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target creates a bad impression on someone they just met. ** Sounds Fishy to Me: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target is refused the assistance they asked for. * Charisma: While related to love, this turns it on its head by improving the target's general presence and demeanor. It's sometimes a subject of ridicule—specifically, ridiculing those who would need such a ritual—but it sees a lot of quiet use. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Great Hair: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Flashily create an advantage when good looks would matter. ** Isn't That the Famous Guy?: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target is treated like a Very Important Person by those they meet. ** Charming Wit: For one scene, that target gets +2 to overcome social opposition with Rapport when they have a chance to impart a witty comment to their audience. * Clarity: Popular among those who fancy themselves cutting-edge scholars, for some this ritual is their cup of coffee, sharpening their thoughts and senses and allowing them to study all night. It's also a popular "counter-ritual," used to remove curses. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Ready for a Long Night of Study!: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Carefully create advantages based on detail and research. ** Sharp As a Tack: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Forcefully overcome obstacles that would dull their wits, like fatigue or too much kogg. ** Can't Fool Me: For one scene, the target gets +2 to defend against social or verbal attacks based on Deceive. * Clumsiness: You know those days where you dropped a glass, spilled your kogg in your lap, and ripped your shirt on a latch? This makes for that kind of day. Creates temporary stunts like: ** All Thumbs: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, anyone picking up the target object acts unusually clumsy and awkward. ** I Never Even Saw It: As a one-time effect, the target collides while in motion (walking, running, riding, etc.) with someone or something they had not noticed. ** It Could Happen to Anyone: As a one-time effect, the target missteps, or drops an object they were holding. * Confusion: People tend to misunderstand the target if it's a person, or get easily lost if it's a place. Creates temporary stunts like: ** It's That Accent: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target has difficulty getting understood, and everyone misinterprets their speech. ** Was It Left or Right?: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, people reaching the target location become disoriented and tend to retrace their steps or take the wrong path. ** What Was the Middle Part Again?: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target forgets or jumbles the instructions they received and commits a rookie mistake. * Health: The magical equivalent of your mom's chicken soup. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Feeling Better Now: As a one-time effect, the target can immediately clear a mild health-related consequence (injury or illness). For a +2 difficulty, the target can immediately downgrade a moderate consequence to mild; for a +4 difficulty, the target can downgrade one severe consequence to moderate. Only one target can be affected per scene, and consequences can only be improved once per session this way. ** Top Form: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target gets an extra mild consequence slot. If the extra mild consequence scene is not used in the scene, it vanishes at the end of the scene. If the target takes two mild consequences in the scene, they both last until the end of the next scene. ** Strong as an Ox: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Physique when overcoming obstacles that require feats of strength. * Love: One of the better-known but also most contentious rituals, especially when used with a subject. Without a subject, it simply makes the target more friendly towards the world, but with a subject, it inclines the target toward the subject. A lot of people view this as skeezy at best. It's a touchy topic, and a number of priests get around this by deliberately casting dud rituals. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Be Still, My Heart!: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target is distracted with interest for the subject, eager to make a good impression on them. ** Hey, Check This Out!: For one scene, the subject gets +2 to Flashily create advantages by befriending, charming, or flattering the target. ** What A Wonderful Day!: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target is as cheerful and well-disposed as circumstances allow. If in an adverse situation (pursued by hungry wolves, chained at the oars of a war galley, etc.), the target keeps up their spirits and see the silver lining to every cloud. * Luck: This is the most common ritual in circulation, and it can take the form of good or bad luck. Creates temporary stunts like: ** This Is My Day: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Quickly overcoming dangerous obstacles. ** I Should Have Stayed in Bed: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target is the victim of a mishap such as mistaken identity, lost purse, stolen cart, mud splash, etc. ** Wow, Really?: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target benefits from a happy coincidence such as finding a long-lost item, being favorably noticed by their superior, or getting the best seat in the theater. * Obscurity: The target is easily overlooked—by the subject, if appropriate. Whether this is a blessing or a curse depends a lot on your perspective. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Not Worth Paying Attention To: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Sneakily create advantages based on remaining in the background. ** This Has Been There Forever: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target item is overlooked by passers-by. ** Ho-Hum: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Deceive when defending against attempts to discover their true identity. * Prosperity: Another popular blessing, financial things fall the target's way. It's rare that this turns into a large windfall, but it can show up as a loan extension or free drinks. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Next One's On Me: As a one-time effect, someone buys the target a meal or a drink. ** It Must Have Been in the Lining of My Pocket: As a one-time effect, the target finds a small, useful object in a pocket, usually a coin. ** Ride That Streak: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Cleverly overcome while gambling. Naturally, anyone caught casting this sort of ritual will be run out of town with extreme prejudice. * Rage: Small things annoy the target more than usual, as if they'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed. If the ritual has a subject, then the target of the ritual is more easily enraged by that subject. Creates temporary stunts like: ** I Swear, If They Ask One More Time: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target snaps at the next person who talks to them or approaches them. This does not mean the target will place themselves in danger—a merchant won't attack an armed warrior, but she may be short-tempered and unhelpful. ** Raw Nerves: For one scene, you or an ally get +2 to Provoke when create an advantage by goading the target into anger. ** I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target gets angry whenever a particular topic comes up. * Safety: Keeps the target or area safer than it would be. Creates temporary stunts like: ** Not Worth Attacking: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Deceive when defending against search attempts. ** Nothing Going On Here: As a one-time effect lasting one scene, the target location attracts no attention unless and until someone does something noteworthy, like screaming for help, having a fight, etc. ** Snug As a Bug in a Rug: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Sneakily create an advantage by hiding. * Augury: A peek into the near-future. Creates temporary stunts like: ** I Saw This Coming: As a one-time effect, the target can choose to completely avoid the effects of one attack instead of rolling defense. ** I Had a Hunch: As a one-time effect, the target can claim to have made any preparation for the scene such as bringing an object, speaking to a contact, prepared a meal, etc., if they could reasonably have done so by knowing in advance this situation was coming. ** Two Steps Ahead of You: For one scene, the target gets +2 to Quickly overcome obstacles and challenges that are also based on speed. * Examples: ** A band of soldiers are pounding on the door of the abandoned farm house where our heroes are spending the night. Gudrun the Witch asks her daughter Siggi to hide in the root cellar while she goes out to check the source of ominous noises. Before she leaves, she casts a Safety ritual, invoking Frigg's protection. ** The target (Siggi) is present (+0), normal size (+0), there is no specific subject because Gudrun doesn't know who the threat is, so the difficulty would normally be Average (+1). However, time is of the essence so Gudrun wants to shorten the ritual; the GM says this will increase the difficulty to Fair (+2) and require the use of the Quick approach. ** Gudrun's player agrees and rolls for Gudrun's ritual, to Quickly create an advantage; the dice roll0+00and Gudrun's Quick approach is +2, for a total of +3 (Good), which beats the difficulty. Gudrun's ritual gives Siggi the stunt Nothing Going On Here. ** The GM notes a mild Divine Interest consequence for casting a ritual; the roll and result did not generate additional points. Battle Rituals * A particular type of ritual, called battle rituals, are used to affect the priest's entire side of the conflict before the actual conflict begins. They work differently from general ritual: instead of creating temporary stunts, the priest uses the battle ritual to create magical situation aspects with free invocations. Battle rituals' effects typically last until the end of the conflict scene. * Battle rituals have a fixed difficulty of Fair (+2) to cast. ** Optional: If you are using the Roar Phase rules, battle rituals are used only during the Roar phase and call on the power of its transcendent state. After the Roar phase, priests can still cast general rituals that provide temporary stunts for individual targets, but the time for roaring is passed. ** Combat Fury: The priest intercedes to the unit's god, asking to lend special strength and savagery in combat. Very similar to the Rage ritual below, but fine-tuned for the battlefield. Creates advantages like Divine Savagery, Divine Wrath, or Divine Strength. By spending a fate point or using a free invocation and invoking for effect, the targets of the ritual can also make one attack lethal (see"Lethal Attacks"). ** Troop Movement: A priest may ask the unit's god for assistance in moving them across the battlefield. Hopefully the god will move them in the intended direction. Creates advantages like Pushed by a Divine Wind, A Burst of Speed, or Right Where They Should Be. By spending a fate point or using a free invocation and invoking for effect, the targets can also move an extra zone for free. ** O God Avoid Us, Seek Out Those We Fight: This battle ritual is similar to the (Bad) Luck ritual above, but placing a temporary mild Divine Interest consequence on the enemy for the scene. Weapons miss, the sun glints off the enemy's armor, etc. Creates advantages like Zeus Disapproves, How Could This Have Missed?, or Nope, Not Today. By spending a fate point or using a free invocation and invoking for effect, force the next consequence that would result from an attack to be taken as a Divine Interest consequence. ** Our God Will Smite Them All!: War priests use this ritual to whip troops into a frenzy for the scene. Creates advantages like Smite, SMITE!, Our Blows Land True, or All At Once!. By spending a fate point or using a free invocation and invoking for effect, the targets can also take one additional mild consequence before being taken out (useable only once per conflict per target). After the conflict, the extra mild consequence remains until cleared normally. ** We Are Legion!: Battle priests use this ritual to bolster the focus and discipline of units for the scene, helping them through the often complex battlefield maneuvers required by commanders. Creates advantages like Soldiers, Advance!, Form Up the Ranks!, or To Me, Brothers!. By spending a fate point or using a free invocation and invoking for effect, the targets can also ignore adverse terrain aspects for all zones they move through this turn. In other words, these aspects cannot be invoked against them to oppose movement. ** Examples: *** Using skills: **** Chaka the shaman, in preparation for the upcoming battle, casts the ritual "Troop Movement" on his scout unit to help them make it through the dense forest and flank the enemy. Chaka's player rolls +0+- plus his Will (+2) versus the difficulty of Fair (+2), for a total of +1 (Average) and a success. The scouts can now use the aspect Stalking on Leopards' Feet with one free invocation. The group also gets one Divine Interest consequence for the use of magic. *** Using approaches and the Roar phase: **** During the Roar phase, Sven casts the ritual "Our God Will Smite Them All!" on the crew of the Skyhammer to get them ready to fight in the upcoming boarding action against the Fiero. The difficulty is Fair (+2). **** Sven yells to the sky and sea for aid and the group agrees that sounds like the Flashy (+3) approach. Sven's player rolls an amazing++++, for a total of +5 (Superb) and succeeds with style. **** Sven is now roaring with the aspect Smite, SMITE! and is limited to using the Forceful, Flashy, and Clever approaches to maintain the ritual during the conflict. **** The crew of the Skyhammer rejoice and can use the Smite, SMITE! aspect normally or invoke it for effect to gain an extra mild consequence for the fight. **** The gods take notice of course. The group gets one Divine Interest consequence for Sven casting the ritual and a second for the natural++++that was rolled. It could be Tyr excited by the battle, but the GM thinks it will be more fun for Loki to take notice! Godly Power (and Monsters) * A god gains power through increasing their intention and storing it in stations in the form of power points, which are spent to power their boons. * If a god’s intention grows to such a point that it cannot be controlled, the god transforms into a monster. If the god cannot stave off an increase of intention by storing it in a station, they can bleed off intention into the land—but this could have consequences. * At each milestone, you’ll evaluate your intention and set your milestone tier, which determines the strength of your god’s boons and the severity of their geas, a divine weakness. * All mentions of tiers in later sections on boons and geasa refer to your god’s milestone tier, not the positions of your intention tokens. * If you need a quick reference on intention during play, read Intention in 30 Seconds. Intention and Power * Intention is the main measure of a god’s power: The more they favor their strengths, the stronger they become, and if they act against their nature, their power will leach away. One might conclude that the gods want to push themselves as far toward their nature as possible in order to maximize their powers—and this is true, to an extent. But this is not a boundless cycle of improvement and ever-increasing power. If their flow of power becomes too great, a god will inevitably lose themself in it and become a monster. * This happens in the game when spending a fate point pushes your intention token off the end of one of the scales. At that point your character immediately succumbs to their power and becomes a monster, with deleterious consequences for everyone and everything nearby. * Fortunately, gods have two ways of managing the build-up of intention. They can store the power in their stations, or they can bleed it off into the world. Storing Intention * A god can store intention in their stations, using the metaphysical connection between themself and the world as a buffer. Even better, once grounded in the world like this, this “refined” intention can be used to fuel the god’s boons in a way that raw intention cannot. * Stored intention takes the form of power points, and a god can store 1 power point in each of their stations. Whenever you would move an intention token toward a higher tier of your ascendant approach, you can instead store 1 power point and keep the token where it is. If you have no empty stations, you must either move the token or bleed the intention into your surroundings. * At the beginning of a tale, all your stations begin empty. Any stored intention vanishes between tales with no ill effects. * If you want to spontaneously fill a station with a power point, you can do so at any time by spending a fate point. Bleeding Off Intention * Rather than storing intention in their stations, a god can bleed off the excess power into their immediate surroundings. By diverting the resonance of their nature through the sympathetic link between themself and the underlying material of the world, a god can force their surroundings to warp in place of their bodies. This keeps them in control of their power, but the changes in the local landscape are uncontrolled and almost always unwanted. * A god can bleed off intention just before they would move one of their tokens. Unlike with storing intention, a god can bleed off intention no matter which direction the token would move, In this way a god can prevent themself from weakening at an inopportune time, but can also stall their transition into monsterhood if needs be. * Bleeding off intention is simple: the god’s intention token doesn’t move, and the GM changes the refinement of the local region or sub-region, either changing the current sub-region or creating a new one. * The new aspect should reflect the events that caused it to occur, the nature of the god who created it, and the kind of intention that was bled off, and it should be “bad” in some way—either directly and immediately hostile, or likely to present a long-term problem, or laced with enough poetic irony that it makes you want to wince. It’s more art than science, though, so if a particular aspect feels right but doesn’t meet these criteria go with your instincts. * When bleeding off more than one step of intention at a time, the created aspect is more intense or covers a wider region. In particularly egregious cases it might apply to all regions of that kind in the world. * On the plus side, bleeding off intention marks that region or sub-region, giving you access to the regional stunt. * Examples: ** Cassia is proud of her Implacable Strength (Mighty) and she takes care to keep her Mighty at tier 3 to make the most use of her power. However, while helping Herakhty in a wicked village she has to display uncharacteristic cleverness and her token is about to slide one step down toward tier 2. Cassia decides to bleed that intention into the village instead of letting it affect her directly. *** The GM pauses for a moment to have a think. She puts together the events of the story with the Clever intention that Cassia is bleeding off and comes up with the idea that the villagers are scared of a return to their old, wicked ways and have become suspicious and mistrustful. She adds Inquisition! as an aspect on the village, and describes how the headman approaches Herakhty and Cassia with a list of so-called “subversives” he believes have not fully given up the old ways. * Making Things Worse ** If the characters hang around in a particular area for a while they’ll probably bleed off a lot of intention there. As a general rule, rather than stacking extra aspects on a region, try to limit yourself to one or two and just keep making them less helpful and more antagonistic. Eventually the characters will have to either fix the fallout from their actions or just move on, leaving a trail of ruined landscape behind them. ** As an example, consider the following progression of refinements for a sub-region: *** “Justice Comes Swiftly to the Evildoer!” *** “Punish the Evildoers!” *** “Death to the Outsiders!” *** “DEATH!” Stations * A god’s self functions as a conduit for intention, but it is too unstable to store that intention for long without warping. However, the world at large is a much less fluid place; the gods can tap into that to store power for future use. These bastions of stability, whether places or communities, are called stations. Gods are always dimly aware of events in their stations, and people present at a sacred place or who are members of a sacred community can deliver messages through prayer. A god might not be able to answer these prayers unless their mantle allows them to communicate over a distance, but they can always hear them. * A station that takes the form of a place is a sub-region—usually an extremely small one consisting of a single sacred location, feature, or building—which reflects some truth about how the god sees themselves. Anyone in the station can sense its sacred nature but has no special knowledge about which god claims it. * A station in the form of a community does not have to worship the god in question—they may leave worship to priests, invoke the god’s name to avoid misfortune, or actively revile their divine patron—but they think of the deity often and their idea of the god forms a stable repository of power. Communities don’t have the same sacred aura as places, so it is not immediately obvious who the patron god might be. Even so, the citizens might erect shrines or churches that proclaim their allegiance—and of course, you can just ask someone about their religious beliefs. * A place can support one god, unless two deities are so similar that one place could speak to the truth of both. A community can support any number of gods. However, changing the nature of a community can change the nature of all the gods worshipped there, so pantheons often diversify their stations. Gaining Stations * New places are harder to find and vulnerable to desecration, but easier to claim—all a god needs to do is find or create a sub-region that reflects some truth about them or their power, and claim it. Bleeding off intention is easy but risky: the created sub-region may not express enough truth about the god to qualify as a station, and its refinement will be hostile. A surer way is to create a sub-region with an explanation, and surer still is to explore the world for the perfect place. * The actual claiming process is a symbolic ritual that varies from god to god but usually takes about five minutes. It could be a religious ceremony, bestial scent-marking, a rainbow touching down from a clear sky to burn arcane sigils into the ground, or anything appropriate to the god in question. Claiming a sub-region as a station marks it. * New communities are easier to find—any community will do—but harder to claim. To claim a community, a god must first take it out in an ideological conflict or convince them to concede with the consequence that they worship her. However, for each exchange a god wishes to begin for this intent, she must have done something noteworthy nearby. Naturally, gods who act Boldly have an easier time with this. Losing Stations * Places can be desecrated and communities can be converted to new forms of worship; stations can be lost as well as gained. When a god loses a station, they can no longer store their power in it, and any power they had stored there vanishes into the fabric of the world with no further effect. * Desecrating a place is as simple as changing the refinement of the sub-region associated with the station so that it no longer reflects the prior god. This is usually a simple matter of bleeding intention into it—this chaotic outpouring is highly unlikely to favor the old owner. A god can restore the station by returning there and changing the refinement back. Because places are fragile, gods who favor places over people tend to be extremely territorial, never straying far from their power sources for fear that an enemy will sneak in and wreak havoc before they can return. * Desecrating a community is considerably more difficult. The people who make up the community must be convinced to turn away from their previous patron—not just to hate them, but to forget them altogether. One way to do this is by displacing the patron’s presence in the community’s belief system with your own, done in the same way as claiming a community as a station. Another method is by wiping the community off the map entirely—whether one by one on the edge of your axe, or all at once with a landslide or firestorm—but this invites savage retribution from the patron of those people you destroyed. Corruption * Communities offer a way to drive them against their patron deities: corruption. Because the community’s idea of the god is what stores the power, a subtle god can quietly amend the community’s view of their patron in order to get leverage over them. This is done by creating an advantage against the community’s Integrity. The resulting aspect can be invoked and compelled by anyone as if it were an aspect of the community’s patron god, and it can be “healed” as if it were a moderate consequence. A god can carry a maximum of one such aspect per community station they lay claim to. * The fearsome nature goddess Thorn wants to teach Herakhty the folly of favoring civilization over the wilderness. Disguising herself as Herakhty, she visits the once-wicked village that Herakhty has since claimed as a station, and counsels them to place more trust in their emotions and indulge their animal sides. She attempts to Subtly create an advantage against the village’s Integrity and succeeds, making the community Emotionally Driven. * As the community’s perception of Herakhty shifts, his nature warps to accommodate it: Emotionally Driven appears on Herakhty’s character sheet, and it can be invoked or compelled as normal. Because Thorn successfully created an advantage, she gets a free invoke on Emotionally Driven for either Herakhty or the community. Boons * A god’s boons are the powers provided by their divine mantle, which reflect their essential nature and become more powerful as their weight of intention grows. Boons come in thee tiers, showing how closely god and mantle are aligned. Each tier offers different gifts, and the gifts vary from god to god. When designing your god’s mantle, think carefully about what each boon says about your god’s nature. At any given time, your god will have boons equal to your milestone tier. * Tier 0 ** If you are at tier 0 you cannot use your boons at all. * Tier 1 ** At tier 1, you can expect to receive a constant low-level benefit related to your concept: the ability to see in pitch darkness, minor illusory cantrips, deep pockets filled with odds and ends, invulnerability to naked flames, and so on. These benefits tend to take two forms: ** It offers no mechanical advantages but lets you do things you might not otherwise be able to, such as produce a valuable gem from your deep pockets, or use your illusions to display silent messages. ** It offers a mechanical advantage over a limited scope, such as being invulnerable to fire damage or immune to compels on darkness-related aspects. ** At tier 1 and above, a god can spend a power point to grant a bonus to a roll equal to their tier, but within limited circumstances, similar to those of a stunt, that must relate directly to the god’s concept. When you created your god, you created a boon with a +1 bonus because all new gods start at tier 1. As your tier rises, so too will your boon’s bonus. ** Examples: *** Julian is a god of lightning. At tier 1 he cannot be hurt by lightning. Also, because lightning is fast, he can spend a power point to add his tier to any Swift roll related to covering ground quickly. *** Oyalede is a goddess of quiet, still death. At tier 1 she can tell on sight how a mortal died. Also, because her kind of death steals up unnoticed, she can spend a power point to add her tier to any Subtle roll related to entering a place unseen. * Tier 2 ** At tier 2 and above, a god can spend power points as if they were fate points, but only while invoking one of their ascendant aspects. Spending power points in this way does not affect intention. ** Second, the bonus of the god’s tier 1 boon increases to +2. ** Finally, the god gains another boon that is roughly equivalent to a stunt, offering either a +2 bonus under limited circumstances or an overall expansion of capability. Like regular stunts and fate points, a particularly powerful tier 2 boon might require you to spend power points. If a god gains an approach-based power, the approach of that power must be one of the god’s ascendant approaches. If an ascendant approach linked to a power ever becomes subordinate, wording of the power changes to reflect the new ascendant approach. ** Examples: *** Arroy is an entity which transforms pain into transcendence. At tier 2, whenever ze suffers stress or a consequence, ze can rename another’s consequence so it begins healing, or purge a dangerous or harmful aspect in the scene. *** Yul-Terra is the goddess of the lizard kings and has an appropriately reptilian head, with teeth to match. At tier 2, she gets a +2 bonus whenever she Mightily attacks someone with her bite. * Tier 3 ** At tier 3, a god gains the most powerful boon: they can spend power to make something just happen, as long as it relates to the god’s overall concept and identity. ** Also, the bonus of the god’s tier 1 boon increases to +3. ** Examples: *** Ellisa is a goddess of evil. At tier 3 she can spend a power point to give physical expression and form to a mortal’s evil, populating the world with twisted beasts spawned from and preying on humanity. *** Surut is a god of semiotics and meaning. At tier 3 he can spend a power point to imbue a symbolic connection between two things, making one a stand-in for the other. Geasa * A god’s mantle also comes with a geas: a cost associated with the identity they have assumed that grows greater as their power waxes. Geasa can be physical in nature—a fire goddess who increasingly resembles a walking inferno as she falls further into her own power—or something more subtle, such as a god so beautiful he cannot conceal his presence or one so subtle she threatens to fade from existence altogether. * Geasa normally do one of two things: it gives a penalty equal to the god’s current tier on some activity that runs contradictory to their nature, or it prevents a course of action until the scene has one or more aspects that allow it. Other options are possible, such as taking extra stress or being flat unable to perform particular actions, but those are harder to balance. Talk with your GM about these. * As your god’s tier increases, the severity of their geas increases as well. For a geas that gives a penalty to an action, that penalty equals the god’s tier. For a geas that requires aspects to “unlock” the god’s actions, the number of aspects required equals their tier. The more powerful a god becomes, the harder it is to act against their nature. * For homebrewed geasa, a good starting point is to look for patterns of three and tie them into the tiers at increasing severity. For example, a moon god vulnerable to silver might, when touched by it, take a mild consequence at tier 1, moderate at tier 2, and severe at tier 3. * If your god is at tier 0, then you do not suffer from a geas. By reducing your power to that of a mere demigod, you can avoid its demands on your nature.